But before entering the apartment, James said things quickly took a turn.

"As we were like up against the wall - it was really like an execution type thing - all of sudden three people come out and they are start shooting," James said. "Luckily one of the guns dropped, and I passed it to my other friend and he started shooting back. And then the other two started running off."

Besides James, Curtis Koenigshofer, 26, and Adrian Tisdale, 22, were injured and taken to the hospital.

James was shot in the arm and bruised from the other bullets.

Some of those bullets flew through neighbors' homes.

"I was afraid I was going to die," said Greg Johnson, who lives adjacent to where the shooting happened.

Johnson said he was watching TV in his living room during the gunfire.

"I dove on the floor and crawled over and hunkered down over here in the kitchen," he said.

Johnson said his sense of security is gone.

"I'm getting out of here," he stated.

Morrow, 20, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, and drug possession.

James said he barely knows the suspect but they have mutual friends.

He said he believes he was ambushed.

"The point in my mind was what were they going to do," he wondered, "leave us there dead and run through our pockets?"

Raleigh Police are still investigating and said it's not their policy to share what information they may have about a motive.

On Monday, Midtown Crossing Apartments released a statement through its attorney, Steve Clayton:

"We received a report from the Raleigh Police Department informing us that that they do not believe last Wednesday night's incident involved property residents, but was the result of a random drug dispute.

The police are planning a meeting with residents to answer questions and discuss any concerns they might have. In the interim, we have requested additional community patrolling and continue to cooperate with the police in this open investigation."